Starblazer sat on her bed, her hoof to her chin in deep thought. The message she had sent had told the Manehattan that they were trying to locate them, which was true, but they still had no way of physically reaching them. Ash worked nonstop tracing and retracing the signal, and Starblazer had tried to fix the engines, but all she had managed to do was bust a wrench. She had given up on them, though they still needed a way to reach the Manehattan. She thought and thought and just when she almost had something, Ash shattered her thoughts. "I think I've located them ma'am."
Starblazer sighed and rose from her bed. She trotted sleepily through the dim lit halls, past the jammed door, and into the cafeteria. She sat at the nearest table and rubbed her eyes. It had been three days since she had gotten any sleep. Ash took notice and stated calmly "There'll be plenty of time to rest later ma'am."
"Right," she yawned, "You said you found them?"
"Yes," Ash said pulling up a star map, "I located them by tracing their signal, and it led me to a region known as 'The Phantom Zone'. Now I think you'll find the history of this region quite intriguing," She projected a map onto the table and looked up at Starblazer, who was now fast asleep. Ash let out a long sigh as she squatted the map, sending pixels flying and made her way out, turning off the lights as she went.
Starblazer stood in a dark hallway. She looked around, but all she could see was darkness. She held her hoof in front of her face. Nope, she thought, not there. A sudden light startled her, and she turned to see a door opening briefly and a shadowed figure step through. Curious, Starblazer followed the figure. She snuck past the door, and continued after. She trotted up and down hallways, going as quickly and quietly as she could, yet she could not catch up. The other pony suddenly halted and Starblazer quickly hid herself behind the nearest corner.
Starblazer, an unfamiliar voice rang through her head, where are you?
I'm over here! Her thoughts screamed in reply. Starblazer quickly regained control of her mind and hushed her thoughts, then glanced out from her hiding place. The hall was empty. She sighed in relief when suddenly the lights went out, leaving her once again in pitch blackness. When the light returned, she found herself in a large, empty circular room. In the center of the room sat Ash, her back turned to Starblazer. Starblazer opened her mouth to greet her, but no words came out, so she began making her way towards the AI. She had almost reached her when the lights died again. Starblazer crashed into something with a THUD and stumbled backwards.
She reached out and her hoof came into contact with something very hard and very cold. Suddenly the lights came on and Starblazer gasped. For standing before her was a screaming pony frozen in ice. It's eyes were filled with hatred and rage as it roared with fangs unfurled. Starblazer tried to put as much distance between herself and the frozen mare, but the room began shrinking, pushing her ever closer to those hungry jaws. Ice formed on her legs as she neared it, and she screamed in agony as it bite into her flesh. The lights died once more, but she could still see the mares figure looming over her, jaws widened, and it lashed out at her throat with wicked laughter.
Starblazer woke with a start. She reached up and felt her throat. Just a dream, she reassured herself, it was just a dream. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off and that it might have been more than a dream. It felt all too, real, and was more like a memory than a dream, like something she had once been through before. It felt too familiar. She shook the thought out of her head and started towards the door. It was just a dream, she told herself again.
She walked out the door and started towards the bridge and a sudden feeling that she had missed something, either in her dream or in the room, washed over her. She shook her head again and trudged on.
And indeed she had, for dangling in the dark corner was a hollow form of ice, replaying her dream over and over with dances of silent shadow. This one shall work quite nicely. It thought to itself as the dances continued their grim reenactment.
Back on board the Manehattan, the icy being shuddered as it heard its' seconds voice ring through it's mind.
Have you successfully managed to break her? It questioned it's half aboard Celestia's Sun.
No, the second replied, but her memories are most intriguing.
We would expect nothing less, the first cackled, considering this one is exactly what we need.
And what of the other? asked the second, has she been dealt with?
All in good time, my sister. the first reassured, She may still be of use to us.
But she does know of our existence. The second implied. This knowledge could interfere with our plans.
Even though she knows of us, there is nothing she can do to stop us. It laughed to itself, a horrid rasping sound, For once we have both them and their ships,
We shall feed upon their strength. The second finished.
Precisely, the first grinned, And then we shall return to resume our rule of Equestria.
Not even Celestia herself will be able to stop us! The second said triumphantly.
Do not underestimate her so quickly, The first snapped, Or have you forgotten that it was she who banished us to drift eternally through the void of space? The second being shuddered as it recalled the event. It had been so dark, so cold, and so lonely. But none of those things mattered, for now they had their chance to return to Equestria and defeat the one responsible for their suffering. Even Nightmare Moon had not received eternal banishment, and if they had heard Velvet correctly, she had actually returned and had been transformed back into her original state.
But what of her sister? The second inquired, Would she not be alerted to our return? We could not take both of them at once, even with our third. The first flinched at the mention of their third being. The third had been the one who disabled the Manehattan's engines, and had successfully done so until one of them exploded, shattering it to thousands of glistening shards. The shadow within had been released, but the two had not heard from it since.
That is the reason why we shall return at sunrise, when Luna has retired and Celestia is left to govern the day. The first hissed menacingly. The second agreed with hushed laughter, then stopped itself.
But we still must find our third, it stated, For without it, we would not be as powerful. The first could not disagree. They were indeed less powerful without it, as they had come to realize when the second's attempt to knock out the Celestia's Sun engines had failed and it had taken both of them to damage them permanently.
Not only would the third give them the strength to return to Equestria, it would, being the most powerful of the three, allow them to possess a pony, allowing them to both pilot the ship and sneak into Canterlot undetected. But in order to do so, they had to find it.
And the third might have plans of it's own, a plan that she had already set in motion.